-Radiation-induced intrastrand guanine-thymine cross-link, G[8,5-Me]T, hinders replicationin vitroand is mutagenic in mammalian cells. Herein we reportin vitrotranslesion synthesis of G[8,5-Me]T by human and yeast DNA polymerase (hPol and yPol ). dAMP misincorporation opposite the cross-linked G by yPol was preferred over correct incorporation of dCMP, but further extension was 100-fold less efficient for :A compared to :C. For hPol , both incorporation and extension were more efficient with the correct nucleotides. To evaluate translesion synthesis in the presence of all four dNTPs, we have developed a plasmid-based DNA sequencing assay, which showed that yPol was more error-prone. Mutational frequencies of yPol and hPol were 36% and 14%, respectively. Targeted was the dominant mutation by both DNA polymerases. But yPol induced targeted in 23% frequency relative to 4% by hPol . For yPol , targeted and constituted 83% of the mutations. By contrast, with hPol , semi-targeted mutations (7.2%), that is, mutations at bases near the lesion, occurred at equal frequency as the targeted mutations (6.9%). The kind of mutations detected with hPol showed significant similarities with the mutational spectrum of G[8,5-Me]T in human embryonic kidney cells.
Cover Picture: Learning from Directed Evolution: Thermus aquaticus DNA Polymerase Mutants with Translesion Synthesis Activity (ChemBioChem 10/2011)
